Baseball players would agree to 20-game suspension for initial steroids penalty
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-27 11:08

Fehr said that during recent negotiations with management, the union agreed to have:

– every player tested at the start of spring training and at least one additional time.

– the possibility that a first-time offender's suspension could rise up to 30 games if there were aggravating factors, or be lowered to as few as 10 games if an arbitrator finds mitigating circumstances.

– the penalty for a second positive steroid test increase from 30 days to 75 games, with the possibility an arbitrator could increase it to as many as 100 games or lower it to as few as 50 games.

– the commissioner impose "such discipline as you believe appropriate, including a permanent ban" for a third positive test "provided that it is consistent with just cause and subject to arbitral review."

– first-time offenders for amphetamine use receive treatment, with discipline starting with a second offense.

– much of the drug program's administration moved to a "jointly selected independent expert" from the current management-union joint committee.

– the provision calling for the program to be halted in the event of a government investigation be narrowed.

Some congressmen have criticized baseball for not adopting the standard of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which in most cases calls for two-year suspensions for first offenses and lifetime bans for second positives.

"Given our shared interests and the association's evident willingness to compromise, our failure thus far to reach a comprehensive new agreement is both frustrating and disappointing," Fehr said.

Last week, the president of Little League Baseball wrote to Selig and Fehr, urging them to adopt a tougher stance on steroids.

"We all must accept the fact that children are affected by the actions of Major Leaguers," Stephen Keener said in a letter dated Sept. 22. "In the vast majority of cases, professional athletes provide fine role models. But, as we have seen, a few highly publicized cases can cause the public to perceive a stain on the National Pastime."

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